Housing Wire

JANUARY 3, 2025

The California Department of Insurance unveiled a new regulation this week that aims to increase homeowners insurance coverage in areas prone to wildfires , a response to the recent pullback in policies by several major insurers. Announced by California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on Monday, the regulation is under administrative review and is set to take effect by the end of January, according to reporting by The Associated Press (AP).

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 6, 2025

As the New Year settles in, unfortunately, homeownership and financial stability are still a worry for millions of hard-working Americans. Through the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP), a first-of-its-kind federal program created to increase the availability of legal services to tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted $40 million in funding to 21 recipients to support housing stability and prevent evictions and homeless

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Sacramento Appraisal Blog

JANUARY 7, 2025

Whats the housing market going to do in 2025? Nobody has a crystal ball, but here are some things on my mind. Scroll quickly by topic or digest slowly. Anything to add? UPCOMING SPEAKING GIGS: 1/15/25 Mike & Joel Event (free online (register Eventbrite)) 1/16/25 Sac Real Producers event (details TBA) 1/22/25 Windermere El Dorado […] The post Real estate trends to watch in 2025 first appeared on Sacramento Appraisal Blog.

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Real Estate Housing Market Appraisal Marketing 361

Real Estate News

JANUARY 3, 2025

After remaining largely stable during the second half of 2024, recent threats from agents and local associations could result in further declines this year.

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Speaker: Timothy Allsopp

Payment challenges often lead to delayed projects, financial bottlenecks, and strained relationships. With construction projects becoming more complex, outdated processes are no longer sustainable. By refining financial workflow, companies can improve cash flow, reduce error, and foster trust between stakeholders. Discover practical strategies for redesigning payment systems to overcome workflow challenges while creating a smoother, more reliable process for contractors and subcontractors alike.

Construction

Housing Wire

JANUARY 16, 2025

The 10-year yield and mortgage rates have been on a wild ride lately, even testing my top-end forecast at 7.25%, but today, the 10-year yield fell after remarks by Fed President Chris Waller about whether the Fed would do even more rate cuts than the market was anticipating. His statement on this, in a CNBC interview : If inflation continues on this path through the beginning of 2025, it’s reasonable to think that possibly rate cuts could happen in the first half of the year.” This w

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

Heading into the 2025 housing market, we havent had this many homeowners with mortgage rates over 6% since 2016. According to the latest FHFA data , as of Q3 2024, 17.2% of outstanding mortgages, around 8.7 million borrowers, carry a mortgage with an interest rate over 6%. In the last decade, as more and more homebuyers financed their purchases with mortgage rates in the 4s or lower, an interesting thing happened: We held on to these homes longer and resold them less often.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2025

Several fires burning more than 45 square miles in the Los Angeles area have forced more than 100,000 residents from their homes and killed five people, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. Nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed, with many displaced residents scouting for rental properties and temporary shelter.

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Marketing Landlords Law Sellers 439

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 6, 2025

According to a new study from Redfin , a household making a median U.S. income of $83,782 in 2024 wouldve had to spend 41.8% of their earnings on monthly housing costs if they bought a $429,734 median-priced U.S. home. Thats a slight improvement from 42.2% in 2023, but is considerably less affordable than the typical share of 30% or lower recorded throughout the 2010s.

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Inventory Construction Appraisal Mortgage 431

Housing Wire

JANUARY 17, 2025

Todays housing starts data exceeded estimates; however, a closer examination of the report with the builder confidence reveals that the recent rise in mortgage rates , approaching 7.25%, has negatively affected builder sentiment. Since late 2022, our analysis indicates that mortgage rates in the 6%-6.5% range are positive to grow sales, whereas rates at 7% and above especially 7.50% or higher significantly impact the builder data.

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Mortgage Housing Market Construction Marketing 405

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Real Estate

Housing Wire

JANUARY 14, 2025

Does experience matter for first-year Realtors? If you dig a little deeper into the backgrounds of the agents on the Real Trends Verified list, you might think so. Most have blue-chip professional experience or personal connections with wealthy homeowners. Some have both. But Brandon Halperin had neither. He was a bartender who started his real estate career in a market that was brand new to him.

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Real Estate Open Houses Agents Real Estate Agent 370

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 10, 2025

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of MortgagePoint magazine, online now. In the modern mortgage industry, lenders are not just setting themselves apart on who has the best Super Bowl ad or the biggest branch footprint, but increasingly also on their approach to technology. Today, technology is driving differentiation across the customer experience, loan officer experience, and overall operational efficiency.

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Architecture Mortgage Technology Modernization 397

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 10, 2025

As the housing market grows more competitive, rental scams are adding financial and emotional strain to renters nationwide. According to Rentlys Rental Scams and Fraud Report , 93% of U.S. renters believe scams are common, and 90% worry about falling victim themselves. The survey, conducted by Pollfish, underscores the growing crisis and calls for stronger fraud prevention measures.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2025

In 2024, more people moved out of Illinois than into the Prairie State. According to the National Movers Study conducted by United Van Lines , 60% of moves in Illinois last year were outbound, which was the second-highest percentage of outbound moves among all states. The most popular reasons for relocating out of state were family (cited by 25.9% of respondents), jobs (20.7%) and retirement (20.3%).

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

The Real Brokerage is a already a top 10 company in terms of transaction volume and sides and it continued its growth this week in two of the nation’s most populous states. Miami -based Real on Tuesday announced the addition of Harvest Realty , an independent brokerage in Southern California with 550 agents. Led by the husband-and-wife team of John Zhang and Christine Li, Harvest specializes in serving the Chinese community in SoCal.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 16, 2025

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of MortgagePoint magazine, online now. Whether starting a job in a new city or accommodating a growing family, leaving one home for another can be an exciting and at times stressful process. For renters, receiving a timely, accurate security deposit refund is key to a smooth journey. Currently, the property management industrys reliance on legacy payout processes can lead to refund errors and delays that inconvenience tenants when movi

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Tenants Property Management Landlords Modernization 397

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 15, 2025

Affordability challenges for renters reached unprecedented levels in 2023, as the number of cost-burdened households hit a record high of 22.6 million, according to the latest data from the American Community Survey analyzed by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Among these households, 12.1 million were severely burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on rent and utilities.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 14, 2025

Homeowners enjoying the equity gains of soaring property values are now contending with an unwelcome consequence: skyrocketing property taxes. Over the past few years, property tax payments have climbed sharply in many regions, particularly in states once regarded as affordable. This surge reflects a broader challenge of housing affordability as costs continue to rise.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 9, 2025

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of MortgagePoint magazine, online now. Title fraud, though not new, recently gained national attention when a Missouri woman attempted to fraudulently auction Elvis Presleys Graceland estate. She falsely claimed the property was collateral for an unpaid loan, using fake loan documents and a fabricated foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 17, 2025

Pending home sales fell 4.5% month over month in December on a seasonally adjusted basisthe largest decline since October 2022and dropped 2.3% year-over-year, according to a new report from Redfin. Homebuyer demand dipped at the end of the year as mortgage rates continued to climb. After inching downward at the beginning of the month, mortgage rates reversed course halfway through December and have been rising sincein part because the Federal Reserve projected fewer 2025 interest-rate cuts than

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 13, 2025

According to Realtor.com s December Monthly Housing Trends Report, the number of properties for sale increased by 22.0% in December 2024 when compared to the same period the previous year. Among the top 50 U.S. metro areas, Miami (45.4%), San Diego (42.4%), and Denver (41.9%) had the biggest annual rise in active listings. Inventory of homes actively for sale grew for the 14th straight month.

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Inventory New Listings Sellers Marketing 347

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 14, 2025

The American Dream is alive and thriving, according to a new survey from Realtor.com , which found nearly two out of three Americans (64%) identify homeownership as one of their life goals, while 50% believe homeownership is necessary to achieving long-term wealth. Laura Eddy, VP Research and Insights for Realtor.com , said, Home, and land, ownership has been a part of the American Dream for generations, and while current conditions around affordability and the availability of homes make ownersh

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2025

Rising mortgage rates suppressed applications in the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) final mortgage applications survey index of 2024, released on Thursday. Unsurprisingly, application volume dropped significantly even with a seasonal adjustment to account for the holidays. Mortgage demand declined 21.9% from two weeks earlier during the week ending Dec. 27, the MBA reported.

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Mortgage Retail Contracts Government 435

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 16, 2025

One of the most crucial parts of underwriting is making sure a prospective borrower has a reliable source of income that enables them to pay back their mortgage loan, according to Khristi Waters, Senior Director of Single-Family Credit Risk Policy and Li-Ning Huang Principal of Economic and Strategic Research Market Research at Fannie Mae. The industry experts offered their insight on borrower income, homeownership, credit access, and more.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 9, 2025

This week, the Seattle City Council had its first meeting of 2025 and housing was a key topic of discussion. But if the meeting itself was any indication, determining a path forward for the citys severe housing shortage will be a struggle as elected leaders attempt to ascertain a sustainable plan for the next decade, according to reporting by The Seattle Times.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 7, 2025

A third of American homeowners (34%) say they will never sell their house, while another 27%say they wont think about doing so for at least 10 years. According to a recent survey that Redfin commissioned, that is. Only 8% of homebuyers intend to sell in three to five years, and 7% within the following three years, whereas nearly one-quarter (24%) of them aim to sell in five to 10 years.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 7, 2025

Amid a regulatory push ahead of the White House transition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unveiled a new rule on Tuesday to eliminate medical debt from credit reports. The regulation is expected to raise the number of mortgage approvals by about 22,000 loans per year. The rule amends Regulation V, which enforces the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and prohibits credit reporting companies from including medical bills in reports provided to lenders.

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Tenants Law Insurance Lending 413

Housing Wire

JANUARY 6, 2025

Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance , part of Warren Buffetts conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway , has been accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of manipulating underwriting standards and setting borrowers up to fail in manufactured home loans. The consumer watchdog on Monday filed a lawsuit in a U.S. district court in Tennessee against Vanderbilt for purported violations of the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z.

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Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 9, 2025

In 2025, Florida and the Mid-Atlantic are the greatest locations for first-time homebuyers to begin their road toward home ownership. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was ranked as the top city in the 2025 Realtor.com Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers report, followed by Rochester, New York; Villas, Florida; Lauderdale Lakes, Florida; Altamonte Springs, Florida; Lansing, Michigan; North Little Rock, Arkansas; Baltimore; Tonawanda, New York; and Wilmington, Delaware.

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Buyers Investing Inventory Marketing 368

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 2, 2025

Stubbornly elevated mortgage rates and home prices are discouraging investor activity in the U.S. housing market. According to a new report from CoreLogic , while investor activity rose slightly between the second and third quarters of 2024, their market share remains below last years level25% compared to 28% in 2023. CoreLogic predicts that investor market share will likely remain steady unless mortgage rates drop.

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Investors Landlords Housing Market Marketing 397

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 14, 2025

After decelerating for two previous quarters, home price growth re-accelerated on an annual basis in the fourth quarter, according to Fannie Mae. U.S. home prices increased 1.7% compared with the third quarter and were up 5.8% compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, according to firms quarterly home price index. Annual home price growth in the third quarter was 5.4%.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

As wildfires tear through Southern California and firefighters battle winds up to 100 mph, tens of thousands of residents have evacuated. The looming impacts on real estate and insurance are also at the forefront of Californians minds. According to Anthony Marrone, the fire chief for Los Angeles County , the wildfires have torched more than 1,000 structures, killing at least two people and injuring several more.

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Insurance Real Estate Clients Realtors 338

Appraisal Buzz

JANUARY 16, 2025

ATTOMs Year-End 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report a measure of foreclosure filings, including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessionswere reported on 322,103 U.S. properties in 2024, down 10% from 2023, down 1% from 2022, and down 35% from 2019, before the pandemic shook up the market. Foreclosure filings in 2024 were also down 89% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010.

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Lending Investors Housing Market Marketing 379